The Devil's Paradox
by tarballGZ
Summary: A demon kidnaps the Okumura twins a few months before their seventh birthday, and drags them into the future intending to kill them. Then their adult selves save them! Now the kids are stranded in the future with these two 'very scary' but friendly demons, while more pursuers go after their lives. (AU)
1. A Parent's Terror

**Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Exorcist or its characters.**

**As always, a thank you to everyone who helped me this chapter! There were a lot of you this time.**

* * *

Chapter 1: A Parent's Terror

When Rin left his classroom that day, the sight of the other children moving out of the way was nothing new to him. They all gave him strange, nervous looks, watching him carefully. He, in return, looked down at the hallway floor as he left. For now, the young boy, just shy of seven, would have to control his emotions, reign in the insidious voice telling him to punch his classmates as hard as he could. Every single time he listened to it, he regretted it deeply after regaining his senses. His father had asked him to be a gentle person, and he didn't want to let the aging man down. Not after sending him to the hospital the year before.

After crying his eyes out back then, Rin had promised he would change himself. And while it was hard, he was doing a bit better. Between then and now, while he had punched several people (mostly for bullying his brother or calling either of them mean names behind their backs), he hadn't broken any bones or sent anyone else to the hospital. Dad was a little proud of him for that, and he was even pleased with himself. But it wasn't enough.

Rin counted the paces until he reached his brother's classroom, the 'Apricot' class, where Yukio stood outside the door.

"Hi...Nii-san." Yukio smiled, clutching his backpack. But his fingers shook as his eyes wandered over to something behind Rin.

Rin grinned back. Yukio relaxed as he focused only on Rin's face. Assuming another bully was making threatening gestures behind them, the elder brother whipped around. Nobody was there. He looked back at Yukio with a frown, but his little brother dismissed his questioning look with a cocked head and nervous laughter.

The two twins exited into the school lot, where their father waved at them from the neglected garden ledge by the gates. He stood up and brushed the dirt off of his cassock (the 'garden' didn't have many plants, and the ones it did have were drooping and ill-managed). They ran over to him, weaving through some fifth and sixth graders that had the privilege of going home on their own.

"Were you two good today?" Shiro asked, ruffling their hair once they were near.

Rin smiled widely in response, and Yukio's hand touched his father's as he chuckled.

"Of course you were!" Shiro said before withdrawing his hands. "Or otherwise the school would have called again." The priest got to his feet and led the boys outside the gates.

"That's right!" Rin insisted. "I said I was good! You said you were going to get me a present if I didn't hurt anybody for three months, right?"

"I did say that," Shiro agreed, turning back to him. He grinned, holding up a brown bag. Rin perked up instantly. "And I did get you something. Both of you. Yukio's done a good job as well."

"Eh? Me? Really?" Yukio drew his hands to his chest, tightening his fist as he eagerly looked up to his father.

"Of course!"

'That's right,' Yukio thought, letting his gaze drop. 'I'm getting better at not attracting the bullies. I can't be scared of demons. That's why they make fun of me and Rin gets into fights. Dad said I need to make sure Rin doesn't get into fights anymore.' Everything had to be done for his older brother's sake.

Once they had walked to the bus stop, Shiro pulled the 'present' out of the bag, revealing it to be a package of action figures.

"It's Blue Fighter!" Rin exclaimed as he grabbed it.

"Uh-uh." Shiro shook his head, holding the bag out of his reach. "You don't get to open that until we get home."

"What?" Rin whined. "But that's not fair." He pouted and tried to reach for the toys again. "It's not fair to show it and then say we can't play with it."

Yukio also slumped, gazing longingly at the toys. A bus came to a stop behind them and opened the doors.

"Yes, it is," Shiro said as he climbed in. "Learn how to be patient. Grown-ups have to manage their excitement and manage their feelings, so I'd like you to start now. Besides, I don't want you losing it before we get home."

The boys followed their father moping, turning their heads away as they sat on the seats in front of him. They patiently waited out the short ride home, but as soon as they arrived at the monastery, the two hurried out of the bus. Shiro hid a grin as he followed after them and finally plopped the toy box into their eager hands.

"That wasn't so bad, see?" he remarked.

'Yes, it was,' both boys wanted to say, but their attention turned to the box in their hands instead. Rin, excited to check out his new toys, rushed through the front doors with it under the blink of an eye.

"C'mon, Yukio!"

Yukio turned back just in time to see his brother disappear from sight. He reached out, then lowered his hand, feeling a little intimidated by Rin's enthusiasm and speed. It was hard not to be, when not so long ago, Yukio was always falling sick. The brunet took two steps forward, shaking off the feeling, when his father patted him on the shoulder. Yukio looked up at him and his father's encouraging smile caused his doubts to completely vanish.

Yukio and Shiro arrived at the living room together, where Rin had already ripped the box apart with glee and grabbed a figure clad in a blue uniform. He dumped three other figurines on the floor in front of him.

Shiro leaned against a wall at the entrance of the room and watched. "You get two toys each. How about that?"

"I get Blue Fighter!" Rin declared.

"Yes, I can see that. Go ahead if Yukio doesn't mind."

Yukio kneeled down beside him, content with his brother's choice. He picked up a man with brown hair and a lab coat. "I want Shiro."

Shiro perked up. "There's a Shiro?"

"Yeah. Shiro's the doctor," Yukio said. "He's super smart."

"He has the same name as you, isn't that cool?" Rin piped up.

"Of course it is!" Shiro beamed with pride. "I bet they were just trying to make their character into someone as cool as me!"

"Dad's cooler," Yukio said.

Shiro grinned.

"But that's because Doctor Shiro isn't supposed to be cool," Yukio continued. "He made Ao into Blue Fighter, so he just gives him shots to become stronger,"

"Oho," Shiro said. "Like a mad scientist?"

Rin stood the 'Ao' figure up and moved it up and down in the air. "Doctor Shiro. Doctor Shiro! Give me my shots!" he said in a high-pitched voice.

Yukio poked the 'Ao' figure with his 'Shiro' figure.

"Tadah!" Rin declared. "Super Blue Fighter is ready to fight the demon!"

The flesh and blood Shiro blinked behind them. He crossed his arms and frowned. "Hold on, Blue Fighter fights demons?"

"Yep," Rin said. "Yukio can play the demon."

Yukio picked up another toy, inspecting it. It had dark green, almost black skin, with the head of a jellyfish and long, thick, tentacle-like arms. He frowned, then stood the figure on the floor across from 'Ao.'

"Rawr."

"You actually seem to like that thing!" Shiro said, surprised. "I thought you would go 'uwah uwah scary demon!'

"It's called a Dreadman," Yukio replied. "And it's not real."

'But demons are real, and you know that, Yukio,' Shiro thought, falling into a pensive silence as he watched the twins play. 'Rin will eventually learn that too. I'm glad Yukio's okay with the demon toy. But should I really let them watch this show?'He felt like it would be bad for the twins' development, like it would put poisonous ideas in their heads before they awakened themselves. Or at least before Rin did. Shiro bit back a sigh. 'I have to control what they see in their childhood. They can't keep thinking all demons are horrible creatures. Perhaps I should trade in the toys and get new ones.'

"Well, is that Dreadman a bad guy?" Shiro asked. "Just because he's not human? What if he wanted to be nice?"

"He's NOT nice!" Rin complained. "He hurts people."

"Maybe he can't control his anger, like another boy I know."

Yukio looked at the two of them, confused. His eyes centered on Rin for a few minutes, watching his brother's every action with his mouth open. "But...Nii-san is…"

"No!" Rin interrupted. "He _wants_ to! And that's why Blue Fighter fights them."

Shiro paused for a few seconds. 'Jeez, what's gotten into me lately? Bad for their development? Rin is supposed to be a weapon, and he will fight other demons. I shouldn't coddle his feelings,' he reminded smile in his eyes disappeared. "Then I suppose it's fine," he said when he spoke up again. "In that case, killing it would be the 'right' thing to do."

"Yay!" Rin cheered, going right back to their game.

'Why did it hurt so much to say that?' Shiro thought, biting his lip. Not wanting to linger on the feeling, he walked over to the couch and made himself comfortable as he watched the children continue to play with their toys throughout the evening, occasionally supplying new plots they could use. Around sunset, the kids switched characters. Yukio took 'Akamaru' the hacker, and Rin took 'Shiro' because he still wanted to pit his 'Ao' against Yukio's Dreadman. Shiro insisted that Yukio keep the Dreadman instead of giving it to Rin.

'In Yukio's case, it's different,' Shiro decided. 'Since Rin will awaken while Yukio remains his human brother. What if Yukio gets it into his head that he should fear all demons or hate them indiscriminately, and abandons Rin? Maybe I should integrate him into the world of demons and exorcism properly.' He rubbed his temple. 'No way, he's just a kid… Then again, if things continue the way they've been going...'

At 9pm, Shiro checked his watch and told them, "Alright, that's enough fun for one day. Time for bed."

"Daaad, I'm not sleepy," Rin complained.

"Well that's too bad, isn't it?"

Rin's lower lip jutted out as he continued to whine. Shiro swiped 'Akamaru' away from him when his grip on the toy got loose.

"Don't pretend you're not going to fall straight to sleep once you're in your room," Shiro told him, unyielding. He turned his attention to Yukio. "And you. Stop it with the puppy eyes. You know that won't work on me."

The twins continued to sulk as he rushed them to bed. Rin and Yukio got under the covers and pretended to go to sleep. They had secretly agreed to stay awake once they were out of their father's earshot. A half hour passed as Rin tried to keep himself awake. Once that amount of time passed, he considered it enough.

He got out of bed and told Yukio, "Hey, I think it's safe!"

Yukio climbed down from the top bunk. As they inched toward the door, they heard a knock on the other side. The children went quiet and stood still. Then they ran back toward their bed. They stopped short of leaping on, aiming to make as little noise as possible.

"I hear you, little ones~" an old woman said through the door, her voice high-pitched, harsh, and raspy.

"Who're you?!" Yukio asked shakily.

"Idiot, what did you say that for?!" Rin hissed. "Dad's gonna hear, that's gotta be him!"

"No… It isn't," Yukio whispered. 'What if she's a kidnapper?' he thought.

Rin cocked his head while Yukio took a few steps back, bumping into the side of the bed and falling onto it. The bed creaked loudly. A white haze slipped through the cracks of the door, distorting and bending the space behind it. It grew, until it loomed over the twins and slid straight toward them. Yukio screamed.

Rin looked back at Yukio. "What now?!"

They heard another set of footsteps outside the door. Then gunshots. Rin went pale.

Yukio couldn't force his body to move despite how much he wanted to. The misty distortion felt cool on their skin as it curled around them, consuming and suffocating them. Both twins felt nauseated while the room twisted and warped, then the mist lifted them up and became too thick to see through.

The door of their room burst open. Shiro stood in the doorway, shotgun in hand, but what he saw, or what he didn't see, almost made him drop the gun. Rin, Yukio, and the thing that took them were gone, leaving absolutely no traces of them behind. He stared speechlessly at the scene before him for a long moment before rushing out of the room and to the nearest phone, nearly tripping on it in his hurried attempt to grab it from the receiver. Once he dialed the number, he tapped the desk as the ringtone continued. But Mephisto never picked up, instead it went straight to voicemail.

Shiro didn't bother leaving a message, merely slamming the phone down. "Dammit!"

* * *

A black device buzzed on an oak desk, making the three screens hovering above it shake. A phone symbol flashed directly under them and the owner of this device brushed his hair over his ears as completely as he could before minimizing the screens. .

'Incoming call,' spoke a robotic female voice. 'Caller ID: Mephisto Pheles.'

The man pressed the symbol, accepting the call. Mephisto promptly hung up on him.

"Huh? He's gone?"

The man's voice jolted another person's attention away from their own work. Despite the former's obvious irritation at Mephisto, the other man considered it a welcome distraction. "What are you talking about?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he leaned back on his seat-a black leather couch that was in the center of the room. He too brushed aside a hovering set of screens, and put his own device on the coffee table in front of him.

"I do believe Sir Pheles just tried to prank me," the man at the desk complained, pinching his nose.

Both men heard a pop behind the couch, and the one sitting on it looked over his shoulder to see the source of the sound.

"That would be quite incorrect, Mr. Okumura. Or would you prefer 'Lord Okumura?'" Mephisto Pheles, their prank caller, said with a slight smile. It seemed like he had decided to teleport into the room to speak with them in person instead.

"I don't mind either way. Call me whatever you wish," Mr. Okumura said, looking straight at their guest.

"Oh, how convenient!~" Mephisto turned his attention to the one on the couch now, leaning in slightly over the back with an inquisitive look that looked thoroughly insincere on his face. "And does your older brother feel the same?"

"I'm your superior. Please address me as sir," the older brother said sarcastically.

"What an unusually impeccable memory." Mephisto straightened up, narrowing his eyes. "Well, _Sir Okumura, _you must realize that along with rank comes responsibility. That is what I came to speak with you about."

"Is there something specific we need to do?" Mr. Okumura asked. "As far as I know, no one else has raised any concerns."

"No, dear me, that's not quite what I meant. I have a mission for you both."

Mr. Okumura frowned and leaned forward on the desk, touching one of the minimized monitors, prepared to restore it again. "What happened?"

"Something created a hole in time-space about fifteen minutes ago," Mephisto explained. "A very curious and unusual event. It transpired somewhere in Southeastern Russia. I would like you to investigate the cause."

Upon hearing this, 'Sir' Okumura jumped out of his seat at once, catapulting himself over the back of the couch and twisting around to land directly in front of Mephisto. "Wait, do we actually get to fight?" he asked, immediately eager at the idea of getting out of the office he shared with his brother. Anything was better than checking reports, as long as it involved moving. "Because if this 'investigation' is about research, sitting at computers, then no way."

"I would never knowingly give you a task that would put too much strain on your limited mental resources, _sir!_" Mephisto said cheerfully.

"What was that?" Sir Okumura growled.

"I said, of course you get to fight~" Now his tone was as angelic as it was phony.

"Do we have permission to use our powers too?" Mr. Okumura asked, cutting right through the bubbling argument. Mephisto's attention returned to him.

"It is likely that you will have to," he said with a nod. "If you find the parties responsible I would like you to kill them immediately. You can't handle them as 'humans.'"

"No, what I meant was: Do we have UNCEDA's approval?" Mr. Okumura unconsciously adjusted his hair to cover the base of his elongated ears again. "We collectively possess the same kind of power and abilities Satan used to have. They consider us 'Living Weapons of Mass Destruction.' So you already know the kind of restrictions they've put us under, and that we can't move right away unless we intend to fight with minimal strength."

"The United Nations Committee of Extra-Dimensional Administration?" Mephisto stifled a smile but he couldn't stop the eyebrow that rose in amusement. "Please don't tell me you take them seriously."

"So you haven't even asked?"

Mephisto waved a hand in front of him dismissively. "You may do that yourselves retroactively. The Grigori won't mind, and they've been in this business for far longer. It would make sense to claim you had an emergency and didn't have the time, since together these demons are at least on par with myself."

"We can't afford to do it later," Mr. Okumura mumbled. Then he sighed. "There's more than one?" he asked in a normal tone of voice.

"Yes, of course. None in my domain can possibly exceed me on their own" Mephisto pointed out with a small hum. "Whoever is behind this certainly isn't working alone."

"Then I'm in!" The elder brother tapped his foot. His earlier irritation was gone, overshadowed by a warring state of impatience and excitement. Behind him, a long, furry tail coated in flames was swishing back and forth. "Let Yukio deal with the UN people and let's go!"

* * *

The mist was stifling. It had wrapped around them completely, making it hard to see anything outside the white, hazy blanket of smoke which seemed to be moving them. Yukio couldn't tell what was going on. He clutched his brother's sleeve, terrified, trying not to breathe it in while Rin squinted and swayed around like he was about to vomit.

The mist disappeared. Yukio opened his eyes and noticed they were no longer in their room. The two boys blinked in confusion as they realized they were in a small cabin instead, standing in the center of a sooty chimney. The first thing that hit them was the smell of the place: musky, filthy, with traces of charcoal in the air. Then, they noticed that a group of children their age were huddled in various spots throughout the cabin, though it was so cramped that there was very little space between their bodies. They all seemed to be trying to avoid the enormous oven in the room, the table next to it, and especially the white spheres that were scattered everywhere on both the floor and the table.

Yukio let out a whimper and hid behind Rin, tears falling down his cheeks once he realized the 'white spheres' were human skulls. He dug his fingers into his brother's nightclothes while he kept his eyes open just enough to count them. One...Three...Eight… Ten… A lot. There were too many to count.

Rin whipped his head around sharply and repeatedly, clenching his fist. His pupils dilated; it was clear he didn't understand what brought them there. The room had just scrambled together on him, causing his vision to blur, then dim, until he had wound up in this cabin. Why? He didn't find anyone in the room besides the kids. When his eyes wandered to a tiny window near the ceiling, he couldn't stop himself from focusing on it and loosening his hands. A small beam of sunlight shone through it.

"Huh? Why's it day?" Rin asked, looking around some more. "And where are we?! Who took us here?! How did we _get _here?!"

"I don't know," Yukio whispered anxiously. "Maybe the mist did it..."

"What mist?! There wasn't a mist!"

"...Yes there was."

At that point, another child bumped into two of them. The twins stumbled, letting out tiny yelps of surprise as they fell to the floor. It wasn't that the other child was particularly heavy, but it had been unexpected.

"Hey, what was that for?!" Rin yelled, laying eyes on the child for the first time.

He was an extremely pretty boy, who pulled his straight, chin-length blond hair out of his face and scowled at them. "[Don't yell at me! It's rude!]" the boy yelled back. Yukio didn't understand a word of what he was saying, but it sounded like he spoke English.

"Did you kidnap us?!" Rin demanded.

The blond's scowl deepened but he didn't respond.

"Hey!"

"[I said stop yelling, you barbarian!]"

"It... it wasn't him." Yukio sniffled, jostling his glasses as he rubbed his face clean. Tears continued to prickle at the corner of his eyes. His lip trembled as he remembered that raspy voice. "I bet it wasn't even a human!"

"Huh?" Rin cocked a skeptical eyebrow.

The blond let out an annoyed huff. "[Whatever. I'm leaving,]" he decided, before pushing past the twins, kicking up dust as he went. He walked over to the door, treading as lightly as he could and tightening his body to avoid touching anything, not even glancing at the other kids. "[It's so gross in here!]" he muttered with a grimace.

"Hey! Where are you going, you jerk?! I'll kill you!" Rin fumed, snarling at him.

Rin stomped across the room, following him. Yukio hurried after him.

"Nii-san! Stop, please, don't get angry at him," he pleaded, remembering the discussion Rin and his father had just a few hours earlier. "You heard what dad said!" he added.

Rin hesitated right as he caught up to the foreign boy. At the same time, the latter pushed at the wooden door, opening it, and promptly fell out screaming. Rin reacted quickly, grabbing the blond's foot, but before he realized it, he was thrown out the door too. He grabbed ahold of the frame just before falling out entirely.

"Nii-san!"

Yukio stared at his brother petrified, and then at what lay behind him. His knees suddenly felt weak. They were spinning, the entire house was spinning like a crazed amusement park ride. Rin and the foreign boy were about to fall out of it and plummet to their deaths. Below them lay thousands of feet of empty air, and below that a city with buildings that would piece them with their spikes before they hit the ground.

"Yukio! Help!" Rin yelled.

Somehow, despite how frightened he felt, his brother's voice snapped him into action. Yukio grabbed his brother's hand and repositioned himself behind the frame so the pull wouldn't send him flying too. 'How much help am I gonna be? I'm super weak,' he thought despairingly. Still, he tried to pull his brother back inside as hard as he could.

Thankfully for Rin, his strength was enough to hold on, giving the older brother an opportunity to throw the other boy back into the hut with his other arm. A couple of girls stopped the blond's fall. Yukio clung to Rin's hand for dear life, but tears blurred his vision as he felt his grip on Rin slip. Why couldn't he just be stronger?! Yukio closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and pulled harder to keep him from falling out. He felt his brother's weight suddenly decrease and his eyes shot open at once.

But no, Rin wasn't falling. The foreign blond had joined him and was trying to help Yukio pull his brother up. They both leaned back and Rin fell back inside the hut, landing on his knees.

"[Thank you]" the foreign boy said. He was smiling now, for the first time not angry at either brother. "[You both saved me. You're not so bad after all. Actually you're pretty strong.]"

Even Yukio (and Rin, so it seemed) understood a small part of that, since 'thank you' was a borrowed term in Japanese.

"I don't understand any of that, but [sankyuu]!" Rin said.

A loud clack caused the three boys to jump and they glanced back to see the door had closed behind them. There was an old woman in front of the doorway now too, and Yukio shivered as she smiled down at them with pointed iron teeth. The old woman began muttering something then, and Yukio let out a small gasp as he heard her. Though he couldn't understand her, he recognized her voice as the one that had been on the other side of the door when the mist came in.

Suddenly, the woman's lips stretched into a wide grin, salivating, and it immediately dawned on Yukio what she wanted. He shrieked, feeling his eyes well up with tears again.

"Y-Yukio, what's wrong?!" Rin asked as he stared at his little brother wide-eyed.

"She's- She's gonna eat us!"

"She who?!"

Yukio felt a bout of frustration burst inside of him alongside his panic. Why couldn't his brother just _see?_

The woman mumbled something and sniffed at him. "I smell… the Japanese isles," she said, switching to Japanese. She reached down to pick Yukio up with her filthy hands. "So it's you! And, you have a mashou, even so young? How pesky! And I hate you! I'll eat you first."

Yukio screamed and cried, arms and legs kicking in the air. "No, no, let go! Nii-san! Nii-san, please!"

"What the?! You're floating!" Rin exclaimed, his hairs standing on end. He reached up to grab Yukio, jumping high in the air.

"Oooh, I see the older brother has come too," the hag remarked, holding Yukio out of Rin's reach.

Yukio continued to flail desperately. 'Why is she acting like she's never seen us before?! She's the one who kidnapped us!'

The foreign boy seemed more adjusted to the situation than either of the twins, enough that he at least recognized what was going on. "[Demon!]" he shouted, snatching up a pair of skulls from the floor. He threw them in the hag's direction, but only one of them hit her shoulder. It became clear then that he couldn't actually see her, but that didn't stop him from charging in her general direction and ramming into her body legs. The hag let out a pained yelp and dropped Yukio at the blow.

"You!" she screeched angrily, scratching the blond across the face. "[I smell British _and_ French spirit on you, cursed boy!]" she said, switching to English. "[How dare you charge at my poor old bones! It hurts! After this one, you'll be next!] She barked an incomprehensible command and snapped her fingers.

Three disembodied hands appeared out of thin air, grabbing Yukio and the other boy by their shoulders. The hands dragged them over to the stovetop and set them down, but continued to grip them tightly. The blond tried to struggle out of their grasp, but his efforts were fruitless. Yukio's knees lost footing and he collapsed, convinced he would die at any moment.

The old woman picked up a broom sitting by the oven, and swiped it against the side of the stove. A flame erupted from the bristles, which she ushered into the oven, setting the wood inside of it on fire. After sparing the children a wicked smile, she wandered over to the side of the stove, but at that moment, Rin dashed toward the same spot and accidentally tripped her.

The hag let out an irritated snarl. Yukio watched wide-eyed as the woman got up and snatched Rin by his arms, dragging him to the other side of the oven.

"Ghost!" Rin yelled as he struggled blindly. "Let go!"

Yukio bit his lip and looked away, feeling tears well up in his eyes again. Beside him, the blond continued to curse at the woman. 'I wish I could do something!' Yukio thought. 'She's going to eat Nii-san. She's going to eat me and this guy too. I can't even get these things off!' He shut his eyes tightly.

The hands pinning him down suddenly seized up and released their captives, flailing around in the air before finally disappearing. Yukio opened his eyes as soon as they did. 'Why did they disappear?' he wondered. The blond grabbed his hands and guided him to the edge of the stove. 'Maybe the foreigner did something,' Yukio thought, remembering how strong and brave he seemed when he helped them earlier.

The old woman looked back as soon as she saw her meal get loose. "Where are you going, you ungrateful children?!" Her lack of focus gave Rin the opportunity to wrestle himself out of her grip.

The elder twin landed on the ground and stumbled backwards, but the phantom hands he couldn't see picked him up again.

Yukio looked back as the woman leered at Rin and gnashed her teeth.

"And you! What a naughty little brat you are!"

At that exact moment, a blast of fire tore through the entire front wall, illuminating the every inch of the cabin. Their captor turned and inhaled sharply as the spinning house came to a halt. Everyone inside, both demon and human, fell over while the house screeched in pain. Rin jammed his fingers in his ears, Yukio covered them, and the rest of the children followed suit in an attempt to drown out the noise. The sun blinded them as it came in through the fresh opening. Rin looked onward in horror as some of the children close to it were accidentally thrown outside.

Yukio and the foreign boy looked behind them, in the direction of the fire. Unlike Rin, who could only see normal fire, they could see it was colored a bright sapphire.

Only the foreign boy understood what that meant.


	2. Blue Fire and Bleeding Hearts

**1\. Disclaimer:** I don't own Blue Exorcist, its characters, or its settings.  
**2.** Thanks to Miyavilurver and TheMoonlandian for helping me out!  
**3.** When older Yukio said they 'collectively have the same amount of power as Satan,' it also means they developed 3 or 4 new powers they don't have in canon. I do sort of jump into the plot without explaining that, so I just wanted to give fair warning to those who might be jarred out of the story when it turns out Rin has Satan's 'beautiful butterfly' wings and they're_ functional,_ among other things they do this chapter.  
**4\. **The public opinion of demons, Satan, and his children, has changed a few times over the course of history between canon and the year this story takes place in. Hence 'distracting autograph girl.'

* * *

Chapter 2: Blue Fire and Bleeding Hearts

Rin felt a strong force trap him on the floor, though he could not see the cause.

"Get... off...!" He struggled under its weight, flailing aimlessly, until he felt it disappear from his body again. Quickly looking around, he centered his attention on the other side of the oven, after spotting his brother over there climbing down with the blond. Rin scurried over to meet the two of them.

"Yukio, you okay?" Rin examined Yukio for injuries, while the foreign boy stalked past them, scouring every inch of the cabin from behind the stove. Making confused noises, he hunched down and continued to scan the opening in the wall.

At that moment, a man landed right inside, holding the four children who had fallen out before. Two were calm but shaken, while the other two wailed loudly.

The blond gripped the edge of the stove so hard his knuckles turned white. "[There you are,]" he growled.

"Wow, I shouldn't have done that," the man muttered to himself. He glanced at the children in his arms, and shifted his head to greet the other two tightly gripping his neck. "Are you guys okay?" he asked. None of them responded. "[Oh, right, you kids aren't Japanese. Can you speak English? Are you okay?]"

"[Uh… well, um… Yeah,]" a dark-skinned girl with shoulder-length hair answered. But no one else reacted, so he sighed and put them down. All of them ran away from him, tripping and stumbling their way deeper into the cabin, although the dark skinned girl did take one last look at him before she left.

Rin joined the blond and peered over the edge of the stove, dragging Yukio by the hand. Yukio pulled against his brother's grip and tried to pry his fingers off. Rin released him when he realized his little brother didn't want to go anywhere. Then, leaning himself on the other boy's shoulder to get a better view (despite his short outburst and attempt to push him off), Rin squinted at the hag's uninvited houseguest, now circling around the edge of the cabin. She hissed at him as he walked, gripping her broom tightly and holding it close to her.

The foreign boy's eyes were glued to the two demons now, especially to the man as he kicked aside a skull. Rin couldn't figure out what bothered him so much about them. The new man looked like one of those businessman types, with a slight amount of product in his hair to keep it well behaved and hold back his bangs. Nothing stare-worthy, aside from funny clothes: a dull indigo tailcoat with light gray patterns on the cuffs, golden chains between the buttons, and pants of the same color. Only one thing was weird: the man had come out of nowhere, able to jump into the hut even though they were floating thousands of feet in the sky.

'Did the new guy come in a helicopter and blow up the house with missiles?' Rin wondered. 'Or can the blond guy see the ghost, and he's just worried about that?'

Yukio edged out from behind his brother and gulped. Once he laid eyes on the man he squeaked, and then he covered his mouth with his hands.

If he kept his mouth shut, could he stifle the urge to scream? He couldn't stop trembling. His dad would have been disappointed in him, but there wasn't much he could do about it, was there?! Blue fire blazed all around the man's body, springing up from it as if it were a part of him. His insanely long ears, mouthful of pointy teeth, and bright, catlike eyes with their miniature flames betrayed his demonic nature. A small amount of fire trailed from the center of his head, forming a single horn. But what stuck out to Yukio the most was two rolls of fire hovering around his back, and six thin jets surrounding those, almost like they formed a set of wings.

Rin glanced back at his brother. 'Even Yukio's acting different than before?' he thought, forehead wrinkling in confusion. 'Because of him? Is it his clothes?' Then Rin noticed a tail flicking behind the man.

"Oh! A cosp-" Rin started, but he cut himself off when Yukio tugged on his shoulder and furiously shook his head. Yukio made one last pleading expression toward his brother before turning to watch the demons' confrontation again.

The hag, who had all but forgotten about Rin, approached the flaming man, muttering curses under her breath while she inched closer like a threatened animal. They met in the center of the room.

Before they could do anything else, the blond interrupted them both. "[So? What do you want with us, demon?!]"

The flaming man turning his head in the children's direction. "[Huh?]"

Yukio sucked in a breath, his face pale. "He saw us," The younger twin yelped, let go of Rin, and scrambled behind the oven.

"[Why have you come here?!]" the old hag drew the man's attention back to her. "[How did you find me?!]" she snarled.

The man cocked an eyebrow. "[Why should I tell you that?]"

"[Filthy creature, you are! You hurt my house! Turn down and dump him!]"

"What?" The flaming man said, just as the entire cabin tipped on its side until the opening was facing downward. "Oh."

Screams of terror filled the cabin as its inhabitants lost contact with the floor. Only the twins and the blond remained safe. They had been lucky - when the cabin tilted over, they had fallen onto the oven's side instead. All of the others fell towards the opening, and the first to pass through it was the flaming man. Just after that, the hag levitated and stretched out her arm. Before the first child reached the hole, he landed on an invisible shield where the wall used to be. It bent under his weight, and he bobbed up and down as if on a trampoline while the shield 'twanged' under him. The other children followed suit, and the shield took a few minutes to become still and for them to stop bouncing around.

The flaming man caught one of the winding branches growing out of the outer walls of the cabin, stretching out his flaming wings to keep himself afloat. The hag teleported outside, reappearing under the house with a small fwoosh, riding an old mortar.

She motioned with her broom, creating a path for the brambles to follow. They jerked out of the man's hands and retreated. He gripped the air a few times as he began to fall again, but with a flap of his 'wings,' and a pulse of the flaming jets on his back, he glided up to her.

The fires licking his body expanded, threatening to surround both of them, but she managed to evade it by teleporting on top of the house just seconds before it consumed her. An instant later she reappeared directly above his head, bonking him with the bottom of her mortar, which he grabbed. She jumped off of it and flew away. A torrent of wind and lightning followed her movement, and he got caught in it. His clothes were ripped apart, but otherwise he was unfazed.

"[Stay still!]" he shouted. His eyes glowed, and the flames inside of them momentarily erupted. The hag froze.

"[You seek to control me, little princeling?]" she hissed, sweating, shaking, and unable to move. "[I am not a weak, mindless rodent. That power will not subdue me.]" She jerked her body back and forth, attempting to free herself from his hold. With each jerk she moved her body an extra few inches, but she could not wrestle free of the other demon's mental grip all at once. And that was all the man wanted or needed. He sent a blast of fire at her, and this time she failed to evade it. It blew through her body, disintegrating it, and the beam of fire continued traveling into the afternoon sky.

The flaming man relaxed his arms and the fire dissipated. When he looked up, he cursed again. The old woman's house plummeted, its power of flight stripped away from it. It made one last effort to hold itself up. All of the children fell out of the opening during this time, screaming and flailing, although the noise was drowned out by the house screeching and kicking around with its legs.

The man winced, pressed an ear shut, and blew the house apart with his fire.

"I'm coming!" he shouted and began flying toward the children.

* * *

Earlier, while the two demons battled in the sky, the children watched. There was nothing else they could do.

"[Why's Satan helping us?]" the foreign boy muttered as he peered over the edge, watching what little they could see of the fight from their spot. "[I don't understand. Satan's evil! ...Maybe... He wants us to himself.]"

"T- Th- Th- That's Satan?!" Yukio jumped onto Rin and clutched him tightly.

"Huh?" Rin asked. "Who- Oh! He's the bad guy from dad's Sunday stuff, right?" It wasn't like he knew much about the subject, because sometimes he and Yukio weren't allowed to go into their father's 'Sunday Mass' talks, and that was the only place Rin had ever heard about it. One time he had sneaked in, listened to his father talk about 'Satan,' who ruled a place called 'Hell' and all its demons, and was in charge of a 'judgment' something. All of it was boring, and like other Sunday Mass there was too much talking, so Rin didn't learn much beyond that. Yukio was more interested in it, and continued to attend until their father figured out they were there. After that, some yelling had been involved as he chased Yukio out.

Rin squinted at the man, watching him fly around in the air, silently putting everything together. 'He really can't be a human,' Rin thought. 'He has a tail too. Maybe Yukio's right. He can see things I can't, after all.'

Then it clicked for the elder twin. "If he's the king of bad guys, what's he gonna do to us?!"

"I don't wanna know!" Yukio shook his head and wiped his eyes.

That was when the cabin fell. The three of them tumbled face-first over the edge of the oven. Other children screamed below them. One by one they passed through the hole, side by side with skulls, tables, and other belongings. The three children went through last. Rin knew what sort of situation he was in. This was _it. _This was the last moments of their lives, and soon enough their bodies would go splat on the pavement. Where was the miraculous rescue? He continued falling. Nowhere. It wasn't coming.

The cabin paused its fall, resumed, then paused, then resumed. A loud pop came from it, after which it fell faster.

Rin's blood ran cold. How was he supposed to stop this on his own? 'This is dumb!' he thought. What are we going to do! I don't want to die!'

The building screeched, but Rin's terror made him deaf to everything but his own screams. A burst of fire rushed past them and consumed the house. Warmth brushed him when the flames passed, but that didn't register to Rin, nor did the flaming man flying towards them. That man abruptly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Yukio had been screaming too, though his voice faltered when the man disappeared. A few seconds later, his shrieking resumed, even louder now. It broke through Rin's own panic. 'Yukio!' Rin thought, grabbing at the air a few times before he could catch hold of his younger brother. Yukio hung onto his back.

"It'll be fine.." Rin lied, his voice shaking, trying to convince himself too.

"But- Bea- Bea- beast!" Yukio stuttered. "H-H-H-Hu-Huge! IT'S COMING! IT'S COMING!" he yelled, digging his head into Rin's neck.

"Beast?!" Rin, caught off guard from the unexpected statement, looked around but didn't see anything resembling a 'huge beast'. Yukio was yelling louder than Rin had ever heard in his life, so Rin wanted to make sure he wasn't distracted by the fact _he _was falling to his death. "Another ghost?!"

Yukio sniffed, his eyes glazed over. "ItsSatan."

"Huh?! Satan's a ghost?!"

Both boys plopped down on something hard, along with the other children. The impact tore Yukio away from his brother, and he fell backwards on his rear end. Other than using his arm to hoist himself back up, he went completely still, shutting his eyes. The foreign boy landed right behind them and struggled onto his feet. A warm sensation twirled around their bodies, keeping them in place. The blond tripped and frantically bit his lip.

"What the?" Rin exclaimed. "We landed." On air. No, on a ghost. But still. They had landed, the fall had stopped, and they weren't dying. While he was calmer, he still felt plenty frightened, struggling against the sensation which kept him locked in place. "We're flying! Hey, are we on that beast-ghost?!"

"It's Satan!" Yukio sobbed and wiped his eyes. "I can't *hic* see you. *hic* Satan's fire. It's everywhere."

Rin didn't see any fire.

"Don't call me that!" the man-turned-beast interrupted, a loud scoff escaping from his long, bone-like snout. "I'm not Satan, he's dead!" After a few seconds, the beast muttered, "Wait, Mephisto said there was a time hole..."

Rin wasn't able to hear anything the beast said, just the sound of his little brother stifling his tears. The younger twin failed to do this entirely, and whimpered when he was spoken to, muttering. "I'm- sorry, I'm sorry."

"Wait, kid, can you actually hear me right now?" the beast asked.

Yukio wailed and covered his ears as they approached the ground. Rin grabbed and hugged him, struggling against the warm things holding him captive. "Uhhhhhhhh I'll do something! I'll beat Satan! Yeah! I swear!"

Down below them, unknown to Rin, the beast chuckled. Yukio shook his head.

"No. Can't. He heard you, Nii-san!" Yukio's voice was muffled against Rin's chest.

"That doesn't matter!" Rin declared. He could make it work, somehow.

The beast laughed a bit harder at that.

They all descended until the beast was flying just above the city. He glided lower and lower, until he found an intersection wide enough to fit his body. When he landed, there was a large thump, and his body shook under the kids. As he transformed back into his humanlike appearance, Yukio saw that the blue flames which had restrained them before had disappeared. Before he and the other children dropped to the ground, a blue aura replaced the flames, surrounding him and the others. It kept them suspended in midair, then slowly lowered them to the ground.

When it released them, Rin wedged himself in between Yukio and the flaming demon. Yukio looked at the ground instead, afraid to face the man directly. Under his feet were thick panels of reflective, black glass. The entire street was made of them, they hadn't been deposited on a normal road. It weirded Yukio out, confused him, and made him believe something slightly demonic was at play.

At this point, the other children were all crying. The flaming man patted them on the shoulder and tried to calm them down where he could.

"I can see Satan again," Rin said in a low voice. He rubbed his head. "...Did he just save us?" Rin asked.

"I dunno, maybe," Yukio chattered, trembling. Tears still formed in the corner of his eyes, and threatened to fall down his cheeks. "But he's a demon and demons are creepy and his teeth are sharp and he was a giant, even if he's not Satan demons are never that big," he squeaked.

"But we're not dead because of him! And didn't you just say he wasn't Satan?"

Yukio mushed his fingers together. "The foreign guy kept saying 'Satan,' but the demon said he wasn't and that we shouldn't call him that."

"So he's not?" Rin cocked his head.

"He could be lying."

"But what if he's not lying?"

"It doesn't matter because he was as big as two houses," Yukio protested. "On top of each other." He pointed to a five-story building on the corner of the block. "Like that. When he was standing like a dog, too."

"That doesn't tell me if he's a bad guy or not," Rin motioned behind him. "But you can hide if it makes you feel better."

"It's not about making me feel better. He's a demon and demons are bad! " Yukio pointed at a group of three other children heading straight toward the flaming man, "See? Those guys'll get hurt soon," Yukio said, in an attempt to convince his brother.

Besides those three, the rest of the shaken children had yet to move. They were scared, but none of them seemed as terrified specifically of the flaming man as Yukio was. One traditionally dressed, bald child slowly snuck off while the flaming man kneeled down to talk to one of the kids who approached him, shaking her hand as she struck up a conversation with him.

The blond boy clenched his fists at the sight of this. He had expected those three to attack him, not fawn over him. He ran toward the group and slapped the girl's hand away, dragging her back behind him.

"[Are you dumb?! He's Satan!]" he yelled.

"[No, I'm not!]" the flaming man shot back, his tail rapidly swishing back and forth. "[How many times do I have to say that?!]"

While the man was preoccupied, three more children - two of which, a Caucasian boy with dirty blond hair and glasses, and a slightly pudgy Middle Eastern boy, were the ones he rescued in the cabin before – broke away and ran in separate directions. Neither the blond nor the flaming man noticed, and the former continued to speak.

"[You're not gonna fool me,]" the blond continued. "[I know about blue flames.]"

"[You can tell they're blue?]" The man rubbed his hair back, grunting and shaking his head. "[In other words, you already have a spirit wound. That's messed up.]"

"[I don't need you to say that.]"

"[Hey,]" the flaming man lowered his voice, making a serious expression as he took another look at the blond's face and the bleeding clawmarks on his forehead. he leaned closer, "[is that scratch fresh?]" he reached for the wound.

"[Don't touch me!]" the six-year-old boy snarled. He stepped back and pushed the girl behind him with him.

"[Stop yelling at him, that's mean,]" the girl grabbed his arm and shoved him forward. "[He's not Satan, he's his son.]"

"[_…What?_]" he turned back at her and said in disbelief, staring at her with his mouth open.

"[Why don't you know that?]"

The flaming man grimaced. He stood up and looked around. "[Don't tell me, that other kid, too?]"

Yukio watched as the kids continued to interact with the flaming man. So far, the man wasn't hurting the children like he expected, but that didn't ease his mind at all.

"See, he's fine," Rin said.

"But Nii-san," Yukio said. "He might have said that because he wants to do something bad later. I still want to go hide." He looked around for a possible path of escape, and saw his opportunity in a thick line of trees growing in the middle of a road just outside the intersection. The other roads mirrored the setup. No cars were in the area to run them down, making it safe to escape. The tree lines were so wide that they didn't allow room for the cars to come through, anyway, which struck Yukio as a little odd.

The man perked up when he heard Yukio's 'Nii-san.'

"If you really want to, sure," Rin trailed off.

"You're only acting calm about this because you can't see what he's really like!" Yukio whined.

The man walked toward them.

"I know I can't see it!" Rin snapped. "Stop rubbing it in!"

The man stopped. "Whoa, wait."

"Eee!" Yukio trembled and took two steps back, turned around and took off toward the trees alone.

"Wait!" Rin yelled. "I didn't mean to say that!" He reached out his hand but Yukio ignored him and continued running.

Rin's lip quivered. 'I mean, I'm just mad I can't see it too is all,' he thought, scowling and looking away. He sat down and puffed out his cheeks, pouting and depressed. Why did his brother have to be mad at him?

Yukio reached the trees without incident, but just as the shade covered Yukio's hair, the younger twin saw the man's shadow tower over him, and yelped as the flaming man grabbed him from behind, picking him up under the shoulders and turning him around so that they were face to face.

"I didn't realize it before, but were you hurt earlier?" the man asked. "In the house?"

Yukio panicked and started sobbing. He weakly kicked the man's chest and stared back in terror. All that was on his mind was that the new demon was holding him. One of the monsters he didn't even want getting close to him was now physically touching his skin.

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you," the 'monster' said.

His assurance fell on deaf ears, mostly because Yukio was too focused on seeing his face up close. _Those eyes._ He covered his face with his hands, he didn't want to see it.

The man hugged him, saying "not all of us are bad."

Yukio beat his fist into his shoulder and sobbed louder. He didn't trust the man either.

The flaming man grunted, before looking up to the sky and blinking. "Hey! You're done?" he asked.

Another humanlike demon flew down, landing a few feet away from the spot they were standing. Yukio heard the thump and opened one eye. As soon as he did, he wished he hadn't. The new man looked to be the same species as the one who held him captive, except surrounded with blue haze and had horns and features of dark blue smoke instead of fire. Both men wore matching outfits as well, though that was more a statement of their fashion sense than their biology. The only thing missing from the new arrival was a tail.

The flaming man handed Yukio to the smoking man. "Here you go."

The smoking man took him. The insides of Yukio's body felt warm when their skin made contact, and the man narrowed his eyes and studied him closely. "…Who is this?"

"Some kid. I found a bunch of little kids in the demon's hut. This one has a mashou, it might have been from the demon I just fought. Can you find anything?"

"Well, he doesn't seem ill. But I do sense a high degree of mental trauma."

The flaming man furrowed his brows. "...He'll try to run again." Then he left, heading back to the rest of the group.

'I'll keep that in mind."

Yukio wiggled in his new captor's arms, and the man gripped him tighter, his expression hidden behind the reflection of a pair of glasses. He lifted Yukio up by his arms and studied his face and body, Yukio couldn't read the slightest bit about man's intentions. What was a 'mashou?' Did they want to dig something out of him? For that reason, and because of the smoke, at that moment, he forgot about the promise with his father.

"Nii-san!" Yukio thrashed around. A fresh batch of tears and snot fell down his face. "Help me! Help me! Help me!"

"Yukio?" Rin stood up, then rushed at the smoking man, who twitched when Rin spoke.

Behind them, Rin's words caught the flaming man's attention. He blinked, losing interest in the blond boy. "Oh, cool, that kid has the same name as-" he laughed before abruptly switching gears and pausing. "Wait a second-"

"Get away from my little brother!" Rin yelled at the smoking man, leaping in the air. Mid jump, he clenched his fist and brought it down, but before the blow could hit, his would-be victim stared straight at him and Rin found himself restrained in midair. Surrounding his body was the same invisible force from before, which, after holding back his attack, suspended him tightly in place. The boy's eyes widened and he swung his fist at the smoking man again, but this time sweat ran down his forehead, and his new blow lacked the conviction his old one did. His opponent caught his fist in his palm and softly closed his fingers around it. Rin tried to yank his hand away, but couldn't wrestle it free, even with all of his strength. So he used the other arm, bringing it upwards, and then the smoking man telekinetically pinned it above the boy's head with the same ability. Frozen, Rin growled animalistically.

Yukio made small whimpering noises.

The smoking man glanced between Rin and Yukio with wide eyes, his 'mask' of indifference breaking for mere seconds to show a wince and a grimace. "Just what is going on?"

"Let go!" Rin yelled.

Yukio struggled harder when he saw his older brother hovering in the air like that. Adrenaline coursed through the young boy's veins, and he swore he could hear his heartbeat. Rin was losing, Yukio had lost his usual savior, and with it came a sense of helplessness and desperation he had never felt before.

Running wasn't an option. For that reason, his mind went blank, and before he knew it, he had stolen the smoking man's glasses and thrown them across the street. The man was still too strong to wrestle himself away from. Yukio looked at him again, expecting him to drop Rin because he couldn't see him. But all Yukio he found was a furious smoking demon, his grip on Rin was as firm as ever, and now his lips curled into a scowl while he took a spare out of his coat. Yukio's stomach sunk. Once the man had his glasses back on, he shuffled back slightly, and set Yukio down, murmuring a quiet, "Oh...that's right" He lowered Rin to the ground as well.

"Are… they who I think they are?" the flaming man asked hesitantly.

"Their names are… Rin and Yukio Okumura." The smoking man turned to the kids. "That's correct, isn't it?" he said with a hint of apprehension.

Rin backed up, holding Yukio. "How did you know that?" he demanded.

"I was right?!" the flaming man waved his arms around. "Wouldn't there have been an explosion or something?!"

The smoking man kept an eye on both of the kids before turning to his older brother. "That depends on how they got here, and it looks you might know more than I do about that. In any case, Nii-san, we've received permission for 80 percent. What's the situation now? Why are _they _here?"

"I found one hag-demon in a flying hut, and she had all of these kids in their house. So I killed her and rescued them. Two kids thought I was Satan! I'm thinking maybe they were dragged here through the time hole. Those two aren't the only ones like that."

'_Time hole?_' Yukio remembered the black glass road. _'So we're in the future?'_

"There are still other demons," The smoking man said. "We have to be on the lookout for them, and get these children somewhere safe."

That sounded odd to Yukio.

"Especially if they're gonna run off like him" the flaming man said, pointing to Yukio. "Wait," He looked around, did another headcount, and turned back to the smoking demon. "Some ran off already! Did you see which way they went?"

"No, I didn't."

"Crap. Just watch the other kids and make them stay still!" The flaming man ran across the street, shouting "I'll tell you what happened with telepathy!" back to his little brother.

"Please pay better attention next time," the smoking man said, as the flaming man disappeared into the woods on their left.

Rin backed out of the way as the man ran off. "Yukio?" his voice tapered off, replaced by short but loud breaths. "Yukio, what had me?! What did he do to me?" he began to slowly guide Yukio away from the group, wanting to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the demon brothers.

"He- He made so-some kind of b- b- blue glow. Just a blue glow."

A few moments later, the man still in front of them chuckled at nothing. "That's a lot of 'thinks,'" he murmured. Immediately after his smile died and he rubbed his chin with his free hand. "I hope you're wrong about that," he said as he glanced at the blond. The blond went over and stepped on his foot, but the smoking man chased him off.

Off in the distance, from within the line of trees, a young girl screamed. The flaming man's voice was almost too faint to make out, but Yukio could hear him too. He stopped moving.

A few minutes later, the flaming man appeared behind them carrying the girl, who had black hair in pigtails. He approached the group and put the girl down, only to be kicked in the shin by the blond again. "Oi!" he shouted, grabbing him and holding him up in the air. "[Stop it! This is half your fault, you know!]" he pointed to the girl who talked to him earlier, who was now staring daggers at the blond boy. "[Yours too. I know you realize how awesome I am, don't distract me and let the kids run away.]"

The girl sulked.

"[My dad's gonna get rid of you when he hears about this,]" the blond growled.

"[Uh huh,]" The flaming gave him a playful grin. "[And just who is your dad that he thinks he can beat me?]"

"[Alexander Amadeus Angel!]"

The flaming man looked back at his little brother. "[Wait, is Alexander the name of that one guy? I don't think so, but.]"

"[That would be 'Arthur,' I believe. Or perhaps 'Auguste.' One of those.]"

"[I'm Arthur!]"

The fiery demon laughed, before dropping Arthur. He doubled over, grabbing his stomach, laughing harder. "[Seriously?! You? Oh wow! You're so little and pouty!]" Arthur kicked him again. "[And just as much of a jerk, ow!]"

"[Wait, if he's the same age as these two, then all of the children might be from different eras,]" the smokey demon said as he rubbed his chin.

"What's [eras] mean?" the flaming man asked.

"[Time periods. Why would they go to all that trouble? This is serious.]" He pulled out a black device from a bag on his waist. "[We need to call Mephisto Pheles immediately.]" A screen appeared above the device and he began dialing a number. The two waited patiently for the call to connect, but when they received no answer, the man gritted his teeth and tried again.

Rin pulled at Yukio. "Why'd you stop?" he asked.

"They'll do something to us if they catch us! " Yukio whined.

"I'll get you out of here."

"I don't want this anymore."

"Just listen to me and go!" Rin insisted.

"The girl! But what about the girl!?"

Rin looked back at the pigtailed girl again, who was crying, but uninjured. "Huh? She's okay."

"Why'd she scream?"

"I dunno." Rin nudged Yukio along.

"Don't you want to know?"

A short distance away from them, the flaming man looked off into the distance. "Now the other two," the flaming man said. He closed his eyes and opened them again before running off into the one of the buildings on the corner of the street.

"See! See! Even if we get away he can find us."

The smoking man looked back at him. Rin's eyes met his and he froze.

"Well the other one just saw us since you weren't quiet," Rin said.

Yukio hid behind Rin. "Is he coming?" his muffled voice came from between his brother's shoulderblades.

The man smiled a bit at him, before switching his attention back to the device on his hand.

Rin jumped back and clenching his teeth. "No. He's not. I think he's just weird. " Rin told his brother. 'Or maybe he's nice after all?'

The smoking man took no notice and continued to fiddle with his device. When he got no response from it, his taps became louder and more agitated, and the side of his mouth twitched.

Rin's body tensed, noticing the man's anger. "Go now!" he hissed.

Yukio let go but did not fully retract his hand. Frowning with determination, Rin grabbed it and they rushed toward the building behind the smoking man. Sunlight reflected off of the front of it as it loomed up above the twins. On it was a sign that read 'Moetka' in English letters.

They ran closer and closer to it, so Yukio felt like they were getting closer and closer to safety, but the feeling dashed away as the glow began to surround them again, freezing their movement. Yukio clenched his brother's fists tighter, trying to decide if it would be worse to look over his shoulder or not to look.

Rin's moved his body forward, trying to power through the demon's ability. Ultimately, he failed and remained stuck.

Yukio slowly turned his head while trembling, half expecting to see the smoking man approach them, ready to rip them to shreds. But he didn't hear footsteps. When the man was in Yukio's field of vision, he knitted his brows and gaped.

The smoking man hadn't moved. His smoke was gone now, and his ears were normal. Now he looked no different from an ordinary human.

"I know we must seem very intimidating," the formerly smoking man began in a soft voice, "but you must believe us when we say we are not going to hurt you."

Yukio's face mixed with awe though a tinge of fear remained. Where had the inhuman appearance gone? _Was _he really that bad?

"Liar!" Rin yelled. "Then what's this stuff? Why'd that girl scream?"

"This is an advanced, ultra-focused form of our flames, altered so we can lift objects. And I suppose that girl was simply frightened of us like you are. Otherwise she wouldn't have left in the first place."

Yukio made a high pitched 'hee' sound when he heard 'flames' were connected to the power currently restraining him. Yes, he was really that bad.

"Then stop using long words and take us back home" Rin demanded.

"Just be patient," The man gave them a kind smile. "We can't do that if you run away."

The flaming man jumped down from the air. A 'ting' came from the road-tiles as he landed. Now he was holding the Middle Eastern boy and the dirty blond Caucasian boy. He put them down.

"As for the location, our house in Italy should be more than adequate," the formerly-smoking-man suggested to his brother. "Nothing will be able to get in or out without our approval."

"Oh, good idea!" The flaming man raised his finger hesitantly. "Did anyone else run off, by the way?"

"No," the formerly-smoking-man pointed to Rin and Yukio, "Although, these two tried. And I caught them."

"That's because you don't have little Arthurs kicking you, and little girls asking for an autograph over something that happened 50 years ago, letting other little kids run off."

The flaming man pointed at the twins and addressed them. "Hey! It's you guys? Why do you keep running?!"

Yukio shook.

The flaming man withdrew his hand, confused. "Huh? What did I do wrong?" he walked over to the formerly-smoking-man. "Hey. Why's he shaking?"

"This is merely a lesson in why we must not get distracted."

The flaming man narrowed his eyes, paused and gently flicked him on the forehead. "Hey. Do you think there is something you haven't explained to me yet?"

The smoking man rubbed his forehead, clearly unamused.

"Talk to me when this is over!" The flaming man pointed to Yukio. "Because _he's_ shaken up way worse than _him_," he pointed to Rin. "It isn't normal!

The formerly-smoking-man passed Rin and Yukio on the way. He stopped.

"So? Have you decided to come with us?" the man said.

Rin swallowed and Yukio continued to make 'hee'ing noises.

"I'm not going to Italyyyyyyyyyy!" Rin protested. "You said you'd take us home!"

"When we _can," _the formerly-smoking-man clarified.

"No!"

The flaming man picked up the Caucasian and Middle Eastern boys and carried them to a door on the side of the building across from the Moetka. He unlocked the door with an old-fashioned key and guided the boys through, before closing the door behind them. The formerly-smoking-man persuaded the other children to follow him. He had to physically pull the stubborn ones to their feet and guide them toward the side door. Arthur refused to cooperate every step of the way.

The flaming man was next to them now. He picked both Okumura twins up, to the relative displeasures of both. Each twin tried to wiggle out of his arms, Rin with more ferocity than Yukio. The formerly-smoking-man had released them from his spell, so they could move again.

"You know what, I think I can understand a bit why you guys are so paranoid." The flaming man sighed. He turned to his brother. "I'm taking them with me."

"They are being pursued by other demons._" _the other emphasized.

"I'll be able to sense them before they get close, it's fine. I want to talk to them!"

"Talk to them? Nii-san, don't you understand the situation here? You have to be extremely careful about what you say." The formerly-smoking-man's voice was somewhere between a plead and a scold. "It's best not to say much of anything at all."

"I'm not going to tell them about _us, _don't worry, okay?"

The formerly-smoking-man quickly put his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I don't know what asinine idea you've come up with this time, but don't. It's too risky. Calm them." he said in a businesslike tone. "That's all. Understand?"

"Got it, got it," the flaming man said somewhat exasperatedly.

"I do have one suggestion about what you were wondering before. About him."

"Hm?"

"Do something to hide your appearance."

"Appearance?" The flaming man frowned, thinking for a few seconds.

"Someone who can see it… Might not be accustomed to it, is all."

The flaming man perked up. "Oh!" Then he rubbed his forehead. "Heh."

At that moment, to Yukio, the flaming man's flames and all of his inhuman traits disappeared, like the smoking man's before him.

"If even _you've _been so self conscious about how you look all this time, his case must be even worse, huh?" he said lightly. He tsked and shook his head. "That really is no good, Yu- Yu. "

"Go." 'Yu' interrupted. "Now."

"Why'd he get mad again?" the formerly flaming man said, before jumping on top of the Moetka with the Okumura twins in tow. Yukio looked up at their captor, wondering what sort of 'talk' a demon would have in stow for them.


	3. The Boy Reciting Scripture (v2)

**Intro Notes: **This is version 2! Version 1 is what happens when my beta doesn't look at it, and when I skip an editing step I really shouldn't have skipped. There aren't any major plot changes, but this version should be easier to read.

If anyone is interested in helping me with plot holes, worldbuilding, and especially character development/OOC checks, I could really use the help right now!

For those of you reading for the first time, I made a note about a certain character's linage at the end.

* * *

Chapter 3: The boy reciting scripture in front of the gate

Back in the clearing with the other children, Yu had restrained Arthur. Arthur made several futile attempts to struggle out of his grip, while the demon led the boy to the employee entrance of a small electronics shop. Refusing to be fooled by new 'human' appearance that had appeared on his captor, Arthur growled and bit his wrist.

Yu shook it off and picked him up with a pleasant (-ly fake) smile. "[Don't do that. You'll never find your way back to your family if you keep this up.]"

Arthur didn't reply. Demons were deceptive creatures, his mother would always say. They destroyed the human psyche with their silver tongues, whether their words ended up being sweet, malicious, or outright lies. His only option for survival was to clam up and refuse to talk.

Yu turned to the others, telling them to pay no mind to Arthur, and then ushered them to come towards him. He re-explained the situation to those who hadn't heard already (there were no other Japanese children in their current gathering, and many didn't speak English either), illustrating a mastery of languages Arthur had only heard come from his mother and father. Many of the children seemed intimidated by Yu, and others by the situation they had found themselves in, but they all listened to Yu's instructions without much resistance.

Except for Arthur.

All of them were cowards and fools, Arthur thought as he struggled again, butting his head up and down and kicking Yu, angry screams turning into ones of terror as Yu pinned his legs down in a stranglehold. The other children backed away, and although Yu wasn't expressive, his faltering smile betrayed his minor frustration.

"Well then, shall we get going?" Yu told the children, making sure to address them all in their native languages. Arthur continued to struggle against the demon's grip as they were all led to a door. When they all got to the door, Yu used a key to open a portal to the Italian home he had mentioned earlier.

"[Th- That's an exorcist key!]" Arthur exclaimed, forgetting he wasn't supposed to speak to demons. "[Why?! Why?! How'd you get that?! Who did you kill?!]"

"[I didn't kill anyone.]"

"[That's impossible!]"

"[I'm an exorcist. I have this Infinity Key because I am loyal to humanity. If I had stolen it, don't you think the person who made the keys would have shut it off?]"

"[No way! I don't know why, but no! You're a demon!]" Arthur growled. Anyone related to Satan was an enemy of the Vatican, and he wasn't going to buy any of Yu's attempts to convince him otherwise.

Yu sighed as he walked in the door with Arthur, and set him down in the hallway. "[I'm not going to argue if you believe demons are fully evil and humans are fully good. But it's still in your best interest not to act up, understand?]"

Arthur clenched his fists, making his hatred clear as Yu went back.

"[I'm going to get the others, stay here,]" he said, before closing the door behind him.

The others? Of course. Yu could go die, but maybe Arthur would do as he said for now. As much as he didn't want to get into this situation with him, he couldn't let himself abandon the others to their fate either.

By the time Yu had left the area, Rin, Yukio, and the formerly-flaming-man were long gone. Rin had enough common sense to keep still while the three of them flew through the air, but he grunted when they landed on the roof of an apartment building two blocks away. The older man hoisted both boys into a more comfortable position. Yukio was visibly petrified.

"Hey. Want to hear a story about me and my brother?" the man asked, looking between the two boys.

"No," Rin said, frowning at the man. "I don't know you, so why would I want to listen to your story?"

"That's terrible! It'll help you out, too!"

"How?" Rin's voice grew sharper. "You even said you were gonna lock us up. I don't want to go to jail!"

"That's not what it is!" the man exclaimed. "Look, we can't watch you all at once, so we have to do this to protect you from the hag's friends. Especially since all of you run away if we don't!"

"Oh yeah? What about the pigtails girl?!" Rin reached around the man's head and began to pull one of his long ears. "You're not helping, all you've done is try to hurt her!" Though he couldn't see it, Rin could feel the elastic piece of cartilage coming out of the demon's head. He yanked it back and forth, shouting, "I can feel your horns, you jerk!"

"That's my _ear, _ow! All I did was jump down too close to her, so stop overreacting!"

Rin believed him, make no mistake. He had found it strange when she came back unharmed, when nothing could stop the demon from pulverizing her if he wanted to. But this man had violated something, a principle even more important to him.

"You're scaring us-" Rin shook his head, "scaring Yukio!" he corrected, realizing how close he was to admitting something he wanted to keep private. The last thing he wanted to do was let the demon know how terrified he really felt, and the same went for Yukio figuring it out too. He was the older one, so he was supposed to be big and tough. "Do you wanna know what I do to people who do that? Guess what I do." In this case, Rin knew the answer was nothing; he could try to appear imposing, but he knew it was an empty threat. Not that he wasn't as angry as he looked. But if Yu was that strong, then his older brother must be even more powerful, and Rin figured he had the same abilities. Like the pigtail girl, Rin was only spared by the demon's kindness. Who knew how long that kindness would last?

"You're the ones who decided to act that way!" the man said exasperatedly.

"When people act that way, it's because there's a reason!" Rin retorted.

"Then ask him what that reason is." The man looked at Yukio. "Maybe he'll tell you, but knowing him, he probably won't," he said bitterly. Then he breathed deeply to regain his composure, and looked back at Rin. "Someday, I hope the two of you can learn to be honest with each other about those things. You'll save yourselves a lot of pain, and you won't drift apart when you're older."

Rin scrunched up his face. "That won't happen." He was absolutely certain that they wouldn't drift apart.

"A long time ago," the man began, catching Rin's attention again, "my little brother and I stopped talking to each other for a long time. It took us a while to figure out the root of the problem was that our conspiracies- I mean, our conceptions of each other weren't true." He wrinkled his nose. "I thought he was someone to catch up to, since he was years ahead of me and treated me like a little kid. But it was mostly because of the way he saw me. He seemed to think I was some emotionally flawless person with a heart of steel, but I was never like that. I never wanted him to envy me, and I never wanted to make him look weak. We made each other into rivals, but that's not how brothers should be. Especially brothers that only have each other. It might have been better if I had been more honest with him too."

Most of the other's words flowed over Rin like waves, and receded from his thoughts. Until his ears perked up when he heard the word 'brother.' Once it dawned on him that the demon had no one besides his family, he couldn't find himself able to be angry at him anymore. The man had a sad life, one without friends.

"So," the man continued, "unless you want that to happen, neither of you should do that. You should rely on each other, and tell each other what's bothering you. Don't just keep things to yourselves, okay?" He looked at Yukio. "That goes for you too, Yukio."

Yukio had been silent the entire time. The man wouldn't break eye contact, so he shifted around and looked away, Only when it was obvious he couldn't weasel his way out, did he speak. "I-" Yukio stuttered. His hands dug into this man's shoulder. "Demons- you- they're- before, you were-"

"Eh? You don't like demons?"

Yukio shook his head and wrapped his arms around himself. "H-How could I like them?! That old lady tried to eat us. Even your brother made a mean face at me, he scares me! I can't stand it," the younger twin stammered. He caught himself and his mouth hung open when he shook and dug his fingers into his skin. His mouth closed and he gulped. "Sorrypleasedon'thurtme."

Instead, the demon laughed hard enough to split his sides. The two boys had to hold on to him as he shook in mirth. "Hah! Of all the demons to worry about, you chose _him_?! That's so funny! Hahahahaha!"

Yukio, though less wary than before, regarded the man with wide eyes and leaned away, although there was a limit to how far he could do that while still trapped in his arms. "It's not funny, I'm always forced to see creepy things," he said quietly, curling his lips. "I don't want to be afraid all the time. I just want to be normal."

Rin didn't understand why his brother would want that. Yukio's ability to see ghosts, demons, and other unseen things wasn't a curse, it was a superpower. He wouldn't admit it, but he was envious. His strength was unusual among his classmates, but it wasn't blatantly supernatural like what Yukio could do.

"Oh, so that's how it is." The man's hair masked his eyes as he bit his lip. Then his attitude changed. "Sorry, that's not gonna happen," he said bluntly.

"I'm going to be like this forever?" Yukio looked distraught.

"Yeah, but you'll get used to it. At least you'll never have to worry about my little bro attacking you, so relax."

Yukio did not relax.

"You have it that bad, huh?" The man squinted. "It's hard to believe you turned from someone like this into a genius exorcist."

Yukio gaped. "Genius exorcist? Me?" He shook his head. "No way. I can't."

"Huh? Sure you can. But until then, there's no one better to drive those guys off than me. So will you at least let me do that?"

Yukio hesitated for a moment before nodding slowly. Rin nodded as well, only because he had begun to see a bit of himself and his own problems in him. This demon must have encountered other peoples' fear of demons quite a bit in his life. It showed, especially if he was isolated from everyone other than his brother, another demon. They weren't just called demons, they were the real thing. That must have made the rejection and hatred feel ten times worse.

"Great!" The man jumped off of the building and flew in the air. "Help me convince this other kid when we meet him, then."

"Uah! Uwahhhhhh!" Rin yelled as they sailed over another city block and he grabbed the flying man's arm. Back to the talking, back to the talking! Flying was scary!

"I had another thing I wanted to mention," the man said.

"What?" Rin groaned. "I don't want to listen to any more of your stories!" he yelled over the wind as it pushed between them and rearranged his hair into an unruly mess.

"That's too bad. Now listen." Once he was sure he had Rin's attention, the man lowered his voice. "You'll make friends someday," the man said softly. "Even if it takes a while, you'll be able to control your emotions. You'll become a gentle person. People will like you after that. I know it'll happen eventually if you try as hard as you can." He grinned.

Huh? Rin had expected another long-winded rant, but instead he found reassurance. "...Really?" Rin couldn't help but smile. Was it really true? Wait, how did this guy even know about that?

As they continued to fly through the air, Yukio couldn't decide which was worse- that a demon's power was affecting his eyes (as the man's demonic features were clearly still there,) or the thought that without that alteration, right now he would be in close vicinity to the demon's true form. He clutched the man's coat between his fingers and glanced down. The sight of the city below him caused his heart to skip a beat and he buried his face back into the man's coat. His fingers loosened and he shook when he remembered whose coat it was.

'He said he would protect us...' Yukio thought, swallowing his unease. He peeked at the man's face. When the demon looked like this, it was easier to believe his words. Maybe the demon wasn't that bad. Maybe Yukio was panicking for no good reason. He looked like a normal human now and acted like one, even if he was flying in the air. If he followed through on his promise to protect them, it didn't matter how terrifying he looked under that, did it?

As much as he wanted to tell himself it didn't matter, it did. Yukio's lip quivered as he remembered the promise he made with his father.

The man landed on a ledge, looking down in the alley below. There was a rustling sound behind the trash can near the corner that caught his attention. A traditionally dressed Buddhist monk was facing away from them, poking at the plastic bin with a stick.

The man jumped down, landing quietly behind the monk. He stared hard at the boy and his irises flashed, then he approached him muttering, "What's this kid even doing?"

The monk discarded the stick and walked down the alley into the next street. They tailed him, gaining ground until they were directly behind him. Despite their shoes clinking and shuffling against the glass road, the little monk never noticed a thing.

Now that they were back on the ground, Yukio was on the verge of tears again. His older brother must have noticed, because he gravitated toward him the way he always did when Yukio got sad.

"Yukio? What's wrong?"

Yukio sniffled. "Dad's going to take away Akamaru!," he said, whining. "You weren't supposed to fight at all, and I wasn't supposed to get scared at all, and dad's gonna find out we did!."

Rin took in a sharp breath. "You're right!" he exclaimed. "Oh noooooo, I'll get in trouble if he finds out I fought somebody!"

The little monk suddenly twirled around and froze.

"Tch! You two broke my illusion!" the flying man hissed. "Can't you guys be more quiet?!"

Yukio actively tried to stifle the familiar frozen chill in his veins. It usually assaulted him whenever he saw any demon, and while it had somewhat subsided around the flying man after he acted so different than the other demons, it spiked again whenever the man raised his voice. 'Avoid his eyes,' Yukio thought. This kind of behavior was what would get Akamaru taken away. The younger twin looked away and gripped his fist. The man was just yelling, not hurting him. He had no reason to be scared anymore, so why was the chill still there?

"Really? Aren't you supposed to be strong?" Rin asked with narrowed eyes.

"I held back for his sake," the flying man huffed. "Anything more powerful than that would have given him a mashou, and I can't let that happen again."

There's that 'mashou' again, Yukio thought. What was it?

Amidst their arguing, the little monk dashed into a sliding door to his right. The movement caught the man's eyes and he made a tsk noise.

"Hey, wait!"

He chased after him, following him into the building while the twins clutched his shoulders. The monk took a sharp turn, ran across the room, and hid behind a plush chair, bumping the back of it. The woman sitting on it jumped forward, while the two women across from her raised their eyebrows and they all shared a giggle. Neither the demon nor the twins paid any mind to them or the others in the lobby. At least not initially.

Rin eventually did notice those three, as well as the two security guards arguing about something at their desk, the older one desperately fiddling with an unseen object blocked from view by the front edge.

The flying man saw the monk's little feet sticking out from his hiding place. He lowered Rin and Yukio, telling them, "You two be good and stay with me, alright?"

They walked with him over to the chair, and stayed with him as he pulled it out of the way, revealing the boy who stumbled backwards, scooting away on his rear end. The flying man grabbed his shoulders with just enough force to keep him from leaving.

"Hey, kid," the flying man said.

"Hello," the young monk answered. "I wish to continue my search, so please do let go." It was clear the boy spoke a slightly old, but not quite archaic form of Japanese.

The man cocked his head. "I can't, sorry."

"I said let go," the monk said, then raised his voice. "Let me find my father."

"I doubt you'll find them here"

"Then I shall look in other places next," the monk said, tugging against the flying man's grip.

"I'm saying you won't find him no matter how long you look!" The flying man gripped slightly harder. "You aren't even in the same time period right now. I'll help you get back to your original time, after that you'll find him right away, okay?"

The monk looked confused, but he relaxed slightly and raised an eyebrow. "Oh. So you will help me? You will not stop me?"

"Yeah, just as long as you don't run off like this again. Come with me, alright?"

The flying man lifted the little monk to his feet. He then went over and jostled Rin and Yukio's backs. "Hey, we're done."

Rin jumped forward and yelped when he felt the warm hand grip his pajamas.

"What's with you?" the flying man asked.

Rin had just been surprised, jumpy, and distracted, nothing more. "They're all wearing weird stuff," he said, glancing between the people in the room. The clothes looked somewhat similar to what the flying man was wearing. The guards at the desk were wearing cravats and suits with pale gold patterns etched into the fabric, the front buttoned together with chains like the ones on the demon's tailcoat. The women's outfits were weirder though. Instead of pants or skirts, they wore puffy breeches, and their tops looked like a long shirt, almost a dress, that had been pulled up from the waist and pushed through the collar and out again, causing the fabric to resemble a layer of shawls. Rin had never seen anything like it before. The realization dawned on him then, that they really must be in another country. They were surrounded by foreigners. If the clothes hadn't been enough, the facial features of the people around him made it completely obvious. Maybe it wasn't just another country. Maybe it was the world of demons and ghosts!

"Weird?" The flying man asked. "Not really. Well, I bet it looks weird to you, huh?"

"You're the two from the group? You also wear odd items," the young monk added.

Rin frowned at the bald boy, clearly confused and a little insulted. How were _his _clothes 'odd?'

The flying man led them all to the second closest door he saw; the entrance from which they had originally come in was automatic, so he chose to use someone's office just beyond that. He opened the door. The little monk took two steps forward, but Rin stood back.

"Hey," Rin said. "How do you know his dad's not around? What's a 'time period' got to do with it? You didn't look for him. You didn't look for our dad either! Look for dad!"

The little monk looked at Rin with wide eyes, then turned around and stood his ground. He backed away from the flying man, who looked back at them without expression or surprise as he shut the door.

"You're not in the past anymore." The man rested his hand on the door. "Er, I mean, you're in your future. It's 2101."

Rin's eyes went as wide as coke bottles. They might not be in the demons' world, but the mind-blowing novelty of being _here_, in what should have been an impossibly far-off time and place wasn't lost on him. But he didn't feel the time or freedom to make a big deal of it. Not yet. "That doesn't mean dad's not here too!"

"No, ...That's…" The demon straightened up and hit his palm with the fist of his other hand. "Oh! You have a point! I should look around, but I really need to take you back. Hm…" He rubbed his head. "How about this, I'll look for ten minutes, and we'll see what we can find."

The three boys brightened up.

"Then we go straight to my house, got it?" the man said.

Before the kids had the time to agree, the group heard footsteps and voices behind them, as the two guards came up to them. They were still speaking the country's language to each other, and now that Yukio was closer, he realized they were using the same one the old demon lady spoke.

"{Listen, I'm sorry, I hate to ask this, but are you… a… demon?}" the younger man asked, his voice stalling on the last word with the clear message that he felt it was a silly, childlike thing to ask.

"We don't speak Russian," the flying man told their unexpected audience. "[We don't speak Russian,]" he repeated in English.

"{Sorry, Vitaly is a bit hasty.}" The younger man backtracked, waving his hands in front of him. "{He was born in the 30s, so his parents got caught in that Gehennan War, and he always tells everyone 'demons this, demons that,' and he claims to see them everywhere. I'm not even sure demons still exist, but- Can any of you understand me?}"

"{Do your job! Do you think you were hired to greet people?}" Vitaly went red in the face.

"{I sure wasn't hired to call the police on people who haven't done anything wrong, just because you think they're demons!}" the younger man shot back.

The flying man and the three children stared blankly at them. The former stood in place. "Er…" he said.

"{You're supposed to be a security guard!}" Vitaly rolled his eyes as he turned to the demon, switching to English to speak to him directly, though his voice lost its anger and confidence. "[You- You bother child,]" he stammered in a thick English accent. "[Should leave child. Politsiya come.]"

"[I don't know what a Politsiya is,]" the flying man hurriedly replied, "[but I'm not bothering them. I don't want to get you involved, so see ya.]" He opened the door again, letting a small breeze come through. Beyond the door was the same onion-domed rooftop the twins had been on before.

Rin blinked, wondering how the door did that, when the flying man pushed he and his brother in the door and came through with them. Moments later, he went back to the hallway and fetched the other boy. They could see the young man trying to restrain his fat, older coworker before the flying man shut the door on them both.

The Russian guards didn't follow them.

So they would be searching for their father now, Yukio thought, taking a second to study more about this world of 'the future.' Rin was sidetracked too, and the more he scanned the area, and saw cubes floating in the sky, the more he began to jump around excitedly.

"So are there flying cars?!" Rin asked, looking around.

"What are these 'cars?'" the little monk asked.

"Can they go to space?" Yukio asked. He didn't share his brother's enthusiasm, but it would be neat to go to the moon or Mars.

"I thought we were finding da- your dads!" the flying man stuttered. I don't know about his," he heatedly pointed at the little monk, "but yours could easily find his way here. He's strong enough to do it; I can't tell you why I know that, but if there's the smallest chance I could meet him again and talk to him…" He trailed off as he shook his head, covered his eyes with a hand, and fell silent. "Have I changed history already?" he muttered to himself. "I think just that much is fine, I'm not dead yet, after all." He smiled slightly, then looked up at the children again.

"I don't get all of that, but I want to show dad everything too," Rin said.

"Yeah, that would be nice, wouldn't it?" the flying man agreed, knotting his eyebrows as he looked down again.

Yukio didn't understand what he meant about changing history or dying, or what kind of relationship this demon might have with his father. From the looks of it, they might have been friends, even though their father was an exorcist and fought demons. _Why _were they friends? Yukio wondered. Analysing the information made him feel more relaxed, but this was just too much to wrap his head around. Yukio looked over to notice that his brother frowning and rubbing his head, maybe he was as confused as he was.

The flying man put the little monk on his shoulders, picked up the twins, and took off to scan for their parents. They sailed over an empty bridge crossing a river, and a pattern emerged. Every single one of the roads they passed had those thin forests, and none of them were used by anything besides pedestrians. The young monk clutched his neck tightly but otherwise seemed calm, in stark contrast to Rin's incessant shouting.

"I'm not going to drop you, be quiet already." The demon sighed.

"But this is so scary!" Rin hugged the flying man's chest, his face pale.

Yukio laughed nervously, but kept a pensive gaze at his twin.

"This is your fifth time flying, isn't it? It's not like riding an octenna or a plane."

"Yeah, so what?!"

"I won't crash!"

That seemed to calm Rin down.

"Plane? Octenna?" the young monk asked.

The flying man blinked as they landed on the ledge of a roman-styled building overlooking a town square. "I'm not surprised you don't know about octennas, but you've never even heard of planes? Which era are you from, anyway?" He let go of the children and they landed on the ground, but Fukaku stayed perched on his neck.

"Bunsei 12?"

"Woah, that's ancient!" the flying man exclaimed. "…I'll point them out if we see one," he mumbled. Then he shut his eyes tightly while Rin looked up to the little monk.

"Hey, come to think of it, you speak Japanese?"

"Yes,"

"Cool! The other guy we met couldn't. I'm Rin Okumura. This is my brother Yukio. Who're you?"

"My name is Fukaku." Fukaku fidgeted, rubbing his hands together and looking back and forth. The flying man frowned as Fukaku's hands got too close to his eyes. Fukaku payed no mind and bowed his head slightly, nearly headbutting their protector. "I'm the 12th in line to lead the Disciples of Fudo. I did not know you were of a noble family. It is a pleasure to be at your service."

"Serve them somewhere that doesn't involve you headbutting me." The flying man growled.

"I dunno what you're talking about but that sounds super cool," Rin said, amazed.

"We're not something like nobles, though," Yukio added.

"No?" Fukaku asked as he climbed down.

"No way, we just live in a church with our dad," Rin said.

"I am not sure what such a thing is, but that means I have the liberty to speak freely?"

Neither twin understood why he said that, but Rin nodded anyway. "Sure?"

"And we can be friends," Fukaku said.

Rin brightened up, his smile going from ear to ear. "Oh yeah!" He grabbed Fukaku's hand and shook it furiously. "Let's be normal friends! I promise I won't act bad!"

Fukaku let go of his hands with a smile and turned to the flying man. "Would you tell us your name too?"

"Uh, well," The flying man opened his eyes and tensed up, sweating nervously.

"Don't you have a name?" Rin asked.

"Of course!"

"Is it 'Satan?'"

"NO! It's..." The flying man grimaced, looking upwards to the clouds and scratching his head. "Ran? Yeah. Ran."

"Oh, okay."

Ran went back to shutting his eyes.

The twins got their first good look at the city's center, a set of normal looking high-rises no different than what he'd find in Tokyo on TV, even up to the tower in the center. Nothing screamed futuristic aside from those gigantic floating cubes and domes, orbiting the city center like planets around a sun. But if the tower was the sun, the town square they were in was Pluto; they still weren't very close to the inner city, and the only thing that had ever 'floated' in their immediate area was the old hag's hut.

Why couldn't the future be more interesting? Even Ran's name was more remarkable.

"So demons have names," Yukio whispered.

"Yeah, you'd expect them to be named Thor-tron or something evil like that," Rin said.

"C'mon, that's mean!" Ran complained, his tail thumping against the concrete.

Yukio sat down and put his head between his knees, avoiding eye contact with him. Even though his eyes were still closed.

"Hey... Fukaku, your dad would be dressed up like you, right?" Ran asked.

"Yes."

"I'm looking pretty far out, but I can't see any monks. Though I'm not done yet."

"What about our dad?" Rin asked.

"Didn't I tell you I already know what he looks like?" Ran opened his eyes again. Out of the blue, he picked them all up, got them settled into their old positions, and flew into the air again, doubling back the way they came.

"That isn't what you said… Wait, where are you going?" Rin demanded.

"If they're here, I bet they're around where I found you."

The four passed the intersection with the Moetka, now empty and very small to them, and then Ran flew them a few blocks beyond it, landing on the top of a hotel across from a mall. He stopped and closed his eyes again, completely still. Bored, Rin looked up to see flying cars in the sky and squealed. So the movies he had watched with his family had been right! Except this was real, every bit of it.

"Look, look!" he said, excitedly pointing out the cars to Yukio. "I want to ride one!"

Fukaku nearly spat when his gaze followed Rin's finger. "Those things! They're flying! They're really really flying!"

One of the cars seemed to be coming closer. As they did, the faint, increasing sound of sirens could be heard.

"Those are the octennas I was talking about," Ran said before he suddenly jolted up with horror. He turned to look at an area far above them. "Crap!" he cursed. "Crap crap crap." He grabbed the children, leaped down from the hotel

and ran into one of the treelines, taking cover under it.

"Crap?" Fukaku mimicked, cocking his head.

"Shh. Another demon is poking around!" Ran felt a demon in the sky, he was sure of it. And this one was abnormally high-class, the type that had their own entry in the Lesser Key of Solomon. "I think it's one of the hag's friends. It's the same type too." It was above them now, exactly where the house used to be. He couldn't see it from here, especially from under the foliage. But he didn't need to. He could feel the demon's hostility. "We need to leave."

"What about our search?" Fukaku asked, downtrodden.

"There's another ghost here?!" Rin panicked. "Where is it?!" He fervently snapped his head around so hard Ran was worried he'd break his neck. _Their_ neck.

"Not close yet," Ran said. They needed a way out. He spotted somewhere he could use his key on the other line of trees, inside the mall's garage. "And it's a demon, not a ghost," he explained to his younger self. "You can't see a lot of demons without a mashou. At least, not their true forms."

"Then I want one!" Rin yelled. "Give me one!"

"I can't!" Ran snapped. He couldn't do that, not without altering history by a large margin.

The antagonistic demon flicked back and forth around the spot of air where the house used to be, becoming more aggressive by the second. Then it stopped.

"I just don't have one because I don't have spirit powers right?" Rin protested. "That's not fair! Why does Yukio have powers when I don't?!"

"I don't have any _powers,"_ Yukio mumbled, his lip jutted out.

Behind them, the demon began to dip, falling from the sky. Then it came rushing toward them. It had found them. There went their safety, and any small chance Ran had of meeting his father again. "Dammit!" Ran sprinted out of the foliage with the kids in his arms, towards the route to safety. "We don't have time for this!"

* * *

**End notes**

I'm going to call the older versions 'Ran' and 'Yu' from now on. This is actually the best way to prevent confusion, as I won't have to clarify which Rin/Yukio the story is focusing on at any given moment, and I won't have to constantly refer to them as older Rin/younger Rin/older Yukio/younger Yukio.

Remember how I said I needed help with plot holes? I just filled one that I didn't spot until yesterday, and now I have to rewrite almost two chapters' worth of material. The next chapters might take longer.

If any of you are anime watchers, or need to brush up on the Kyoto arc of the manga, Fukaku is Suguro's ancestor, the founder of the Myou-dha. He was mentioned a few times.

Those of you who remembered might be annoyed with me for 'ignoring' the founder part. I didn't. Fukaku founded the Myou-dha, but supposedly Tatsuma is the 17th head priest in line, and Ryuuji the 18th. I did the math, and if Fukaku were the 1st, there would have to be a new head priest every 10 years or less. So I decided Fukaku would carry linage from his old family into the Myou-dha, and he would be the 12th head priest of the Suguro family since he's 12th in line to lead his old clan, which I'm calling the Disciples of Fudo (considering their relationship to Kurikara and the Wisdom Kings.) At this point in time, he's not a 'Suguro,' and their family isn't important enough within the country to receive a last name. Which is exactly the reason he makes a big deal about Rin and Yukio's last name.


End file.
